Geniza Lab

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Letter in Arabic script. Addressed to an 'ِAmīr al-Ajal reporting on a ship bearing wood (markab al-ḥaṭb) that arrived at the port of Fusṭāṭ on the Nile (al-ṣināʿ maḥrusa). “The ship bearing wood has arrived after a delay. I’m sorry for the delay, it’s not my habit. Please hold off Ibn al-Tabbān and tell him to wait until a laborer(ʿāmil?) is available to […].” It seems that the addressee was in the service of al-Afḍal b. Badr al-Jamālī (or the son of Saladin?), hence the letter could be dated to that period. On verso, there are various jottings and pen trials in Hebrew and Arabic script. Needs examination. ASE, YU.

Arabic script (VMR)

Fragment, not very legible script. Accounts with niṣfs and mentioning of graves (qubūr) and a woman. Scribbly note on verso with names, probably signatures. Needs examination.

Fragment of a legal Islamic (fiqh) manual. The preserved text is a commentary passage on the Islamic ritual of ṭahāra and ablution. Discussions circle around whether ablution can be done with honey and arguments are established for the same from the Quran, hadīth, and a narrative from the wife of the Prophet, ʿĀʾisha. The infamous hadīth transmitter Qāḍ.ī Abū al-Faraj is also mentioned.

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Receipt or bill or account. In Arabic script. May be stating that the writer has received (akhadhtuhā) the sum of 50 dirhams for various textile-related expenses. Lines 2–3 may include the phrases "in the hand of the Rāb" and "the presence of the judges." The line items include the laundering (ghasīl) of a silk brocade veil (al-sitr al-dībāj), the laundering of two white ghiṭā's, the price of silk, dyeing (ṣibāgh), and sewing (khiyāṭ). ASE

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Tax receipt from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb.

Arabic script (VMR)

Tax receipt in the hand of the jahbadh Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ for the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb. Reused on verso for an account.

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)

Arabic script (VMR)